Tag: #editing

Taking Writing Risks

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
― Franz Kafka

As writers, we can come up with some unique ways of looking at the world.

A man wakes up to realise he’s turned into a monstrous insect. A man attempts to interact with a strange, unknowable bureaucracy. Kafka imagined unconventional ways of interpreting the truth of reality.

We too have a unique perspective on the world. It might not be as bizarre as Kafka’s, or in many cases, it might be even more so.

Either way, merely own it. Don’t hold back—explore your ideas to their fullest degree. You can pull it all into shape in the, undoubtedly long editing process.

So just for now, follow all your crazy ideas as far as they’ll take you.

Today, let your book take an unexpected turn. Have you been wondering what would happen if your character said something extreme, or if they were faced with an unforeseeable plot twist?

I’ve discovered I’m drifting off into the Pantser’s world. So, take the risk and do it!

Don’t Show Too Much

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“Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”
―Stephen King

In an earlier Blog post, I told you that to show and not to tell, and you need to be specific.

That’s true. The more you replace blanket statements with specific detail, the more you’ll immerse your readers in the scene.

However, on the other hand, you don’t need to describe everything. Including too much detail will distract your readers and derail the pace of your story. It could even make it more difficult for your readers to envision the scene in their minds—there won’t be any gaps for them to fill with their imagination.

If you were in the scene you’re writing, what remarkable details would you notice? So include those in your story.

Mention distinctive features of your character’s appearance. Describe vital aspects of the room in which your scene is taking place.

Leave the unimportant things to your readers’ imagination. As describing too much could turn us underwriters into overwriters, and the editing process would still be on the full side of things.

Show Don’t Tell

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Rule #1:

The most straightforward rule to remember if you’re trying to show is merely to be specific. Specificity will fill in the gaps from your telling and bring life to your scenes.

Here’s a very tell-tale example:

They went to New York to see Cats. They both enjoyed it very much. When they tried to go home, their flight was delayed because of the snow, so they stayed another night and decided to see the musical again.

That’s a fun story. It’s all pretty vague, though, isn’t it?

Who is “they”? At what theatre did they see Cats? Why did they enjoy it? How did they feel after their flight was delayed?

Here’s that same example with some of those questions answered:

Tanya and James flew to New York City. “I can’t wait to see the show,” Tanya said as they checked into their rooms. “You’re going to love it.” James shook his head. “I don’t get it. It’s about cats who sing and dance? Sounds sorta dumb.” Tanya smiled. “Just trust me.”

Their hotel was just a few blocks from the Foxwoods Theater, so they walked. James had never seen any buildings so tall or so many people walking on the street before. When they got to the theatre, Tanya noticed his eyes were a little more full, his mouth a little slacker.

Those two paragraphs are not perfect, but it’s a little better. Instead of “they,” we now see Tanya and James. We know a little more about them, that Tanya is a little more cultured, while James is more wary of it.

Dialogue

~ Philip Shepherd ~ 1 Comment

I am just starting working seriously on my writing, and I do go into coffee shops, eavesdrop on others conversations, and go home and write down the different ways people start and navigate a conversation.

This has helped me begin to understand how real dialogue worked, but it wasn’t enough. Before I could still write a conversation, and I had to ask WHY. Why does this character say this thing? Why did that character reply like that? How did they arrive on this subject in the first place?

I eavesdropped on conversations for a few months. It did seem a little creepy at first, but I wasn’t leaning over trying to hear. All I was doing was hearing voices that people were vocalising on the next table. It was difficult not to hear them. But it’s taught me so much about how real dialogue works.

For instance, real people do say random things.

As writers, we want our characters to talk about things central to our plot, but humans are pretty weird. They don’t talk about important things. More often than not, they talk about mundane things like the weather and the fact that their football team lost a match last week.

To write realistically random dialogue without losing track of your plot, have your characters begin a conversation about something random, and then circle around to the critical parts of your plot. But, don’t just have a full conversation on the weather today.

I Love a Deadline

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I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.

—Douglas Adams

Deadlines are meant to induce stress. I know none of us wants more stress in our lives (do you?), but most writers I know struggle with two things: discipline and focus. A reasonable deadline helps with both.

A little bit of stress focuses me on completing a task. A definite deadline can keep your bottom in the chair and your fingers on the keys much better than “inspiration,” that fickle muse, ever could.

How do you set valid deadlines, so they don’t just whoosh by as they did for Douglas Adams?

As I have found by completing more of my first draft in a month and a half than the previous year, you fix a penalty for not achieving a word count. I do dislike word counts as they become a target and I am an underwriter, so I usually fall short of any desired word count and add fluff words just to pan things out and use words.

Having put all that into consideration, I would recomend that you set up deadlines and don’t make a self-reminder or self-incrimination act to reprimand yourself for missing it. What you need is someone else to carry out the forfeit. Money is usually the best way to do this. Give someone £100 and have weekly deadlines, say Fridays so that you submit work every Friday and if you miss more than two Fridays they get to keep the £100.

It works fine for myself.

Day 45 of 100 Days to a Book

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I am within the 7th week of this 14 and a half week course, and things are getting harder. I usually write at least 1,000 words every weekday and have the weekend off, except for Saturday morning when I spend about 4 hours Saturday morning critiquing 3 to 4 people’s submissions that they had updated on Fridays.

We have to submit every Friday somewhere in the region of 2,500 to 7,500 words each week. By the 19th June which is the final submission day, we should have 65,000 words. Moreover, a finished first draft of our novels.

I did start my novel by pantsing it, and after about 15,000 words I did not know where the story was going. So I stopped and thought that I should outline the story of my novel. I also looked at the different genres of crime fiction and opted for the hardboiled detective.

The Write Practice has given me room for thought on where my novel is set and where I get my ideas. It is true that if you help other writers by critiquing their submissions, then you receive help back from them. The outline is relatively basic, so when I come to write that section, it is still open to a significant amount of change that comes to my mind when I go through the scene.

Unfilter Your First Person POV

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The first-person point of view is actually told like a diary entry, a personal narrative, or a running annotation of the first person’s thoughts. The reader does not see this character from the outside but only through the character’s eyes which have access to thoughts and feelings.

There’s a danger to watch out for, though: filter words.

Filter words put distance between the reader and your first-person character, filtering that character’s encounter. Let’s look at an example to get a better sense:

This was magic school? I stood and stared at it; I thought it seemed to be set up to depress us. I saw the green hill rising from the earth like some cancer, and I could hear the voices of students on the wind, chanting soullessly, as if the wonder and awe of true magic had been whitewashed from their lives.

Not sure what to look for in the paragraph? Here it is with the filter words removed.

This was magic school? It seemed to be set up to depress us. The green hill rose from the earth like some cancer, and the voices of students carried on the wind, chanting soullessly as if the wonder and awe of true magic had been whitewashed from their lives.

What was removed? I thought, I saw, I could hear. In other words, the words that were removed were anything that had you, the reader, looking at her looking at things, rather than looking at the things she saw.

This is the true first-person: being behind the character’s eyes. I have to say in my First Draft, it is riddled with these filters. I have more words to delete.

The Characters within your Story

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Character Traits

At the end of the day, the characters are the most critical part of your story. They’re the ones with which your readers empathise; they’re the ones your readers will finish the book to follow. Some people have told me to write backstories and investigate every detail of their lifestyle so I can use them in a way that is consistent.

Here’s my simple principle: whatever makes it into the window frame of your story has to either impact your characters somehow or at least impact a role in a way that will grab your reader’s attention.

Build up your new world. Play and have fun. Go crazy with them. Then when it comes to your story, just make sure that the parts are seen through the window frame matter to the characters. It’s not who the characters are at the beginning, it’s what they do within the timeframe of your story. Their actions are what people see of them. A personality whom is merely upset and looks downwards is very different from a character that stands tall and slaps the face of the other actor that said something nasty.

How to Write a Critique

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As I have already said, I am on the 100 days to a First Draft. This gives me deadlines and word counts to meet each Friday. The writers are in groups of ten, as there are actually over 150 writers on the course.
Every Friday I submit a chapter with a word count between 2,500 and 7,500 words. So, on the 19th of June, I should have at least 65,000 words and completed my first draft. The course also adds critiques, so as I submit my chapter, I also have to read chapters by three other writers and critique them.
Critiquing 4,500-word chapters is not easy. Not only do you have to read them but you have to understand and give judgment on what you have learned. The Write Practice would like use to use a sandwich critique. This is where we first comment on something that we prefer and is good. Second, we mention on the constructive criticism. Then thirdly we end with a good comment on what we enjoyed.
This approach does put critiquing in a suggestive comment approach and not the, ‘It’s alright.” club.

Manuscript Format on Submission

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1. The manuscript you submit should be printed on standard, 8 ½” x 11” 20 lb paper on one side of the page only. (This is standard American paper, evidently, in the UK an A4 size page will suffice, but be sure to ask the publisher or agent. )

2. Remember to double-space your manuscript, just like a PhD thesis or journal paper, and indent the paragraphs or when dialogue five spaces. (This is the most important rule. The double spacing is easier to read and also adds room for critique notes.)

3. Use a 12 point font Courier or Times Roman, but always check the publisher or agent’s guidelines before your submission.

4. Be sure to only use white paper for your manuscript and proper business stationery for the cover letter. Don’t send work in pretty envelopes with art or images from your website on them. The publisher or agent will not care about your smart associations because they will not read the story.

5. Mark each page with a page number and include a header with your last name, a word from the title, and page number. A busy editor may drop a pile of manuscripts on the floor; you want it to be quickly reassembled in order.

6. Don’t send your query letters out without fully researching the agency or publisher. RESEARCH THIS CAREFULLY. The top reason for rejection is the manuscript doesn’t fit for the publishing house or agency. So make sure that the publisher or agent handles the genre of books you are submitting. Consult a market guide, but also try to dig a little deeper than that. Don’t worry; it will pay off.

7. Get names. Do not send your letter to ‘ Dear Sir,’ so take a minute and phone the agent or publisher, if you must, to find out to whom you are to address your submission. In the end, always read the submission guidelines.

8. If in any doubt, always query first. This is particularly true if you are looking for an agent. If they are curious about your project, they will then request more materials.

9. Only send what is requested. Don’t send any gifts, bribes or promotional supplies with your package. Don’t submit summaries for the manuscripts that you may have in the drawer when they’ve only asked to see one document.

10. Spend the same time and energy on the submission package as you did on your manuscript. Be sure to make it as sharp as possible. This submission is your sales tool. Also, have the help of critique partners and writer friends in making it perfect.